In
linguistics, transformational syntax is a derivational approach to
syntax
In linguistics, syntax () is the study of how words and morphemes combine to form larger units such as phrases and sentences. Central concerns of syntax include word order, grammatical relations, hierarchical sentence structure ( constituency) ...
that developed from the extended standard theory of
generative grammar originally proposed by
Noam Chomsky in his books ''
Syntactic Structures
''Syntactic Structures'' is an influential work in linguistics by American linguist Noam Chomsky, originally published in 1957. It is an elaboration of his teacher Zellig Harris's model of transformational generative grammar. A short monograph ...
'' and ''
Aspects of the Theory of Syntax
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''.
[Akmajian, Adrian; Heny, Frank ''An Introduction To The Principles Of Transformational Syntax'' MIT Press, ] It emerged from a need to improve on approaches to
grammar in
structural linguistics
Structural linguistics, or structuralism, in linguistics, denotes schools or theories in which language is conceived as a self-contained, self-regulating Semiotics, semiotic system whose elements are defined by their relationship to other element ...
.
Particularly in early incarnations, transformational syntax adopted the view that
phrase structure grammar must be enriched by a transformational grammar, with
syntactic rules or
syntactic operations that alter the base structures created by phrase structure rules. In more recent theories, including
Government and Binding Theory but especially in
Minimalism
In visual arts, music and other media, minimalism is an art movement that began in post–World War II in Western art, most strongly with American visual arts in the 1960s and early 1970s. Prominent artists associated with minimalism include Don ...
, the strong distinction between phrase structure and transformational components has largely been abandoned, with operations that build structure (
phrase structure rules) and those that change structure (
transformational rules) either interleaved, or unified under a single operation (as in the Minimalist operation
Merge).
Overview
According to the Chomskyan tradition,
language acquisition
Language acquisition is the process by which humans acquire the capacity to perceive and comprehend language (in other words, gain the ability to be aware of language and to understand it), as well as to produce and use words and sentences to ...
is easy for children because they are born with a
universal grammar in their minds. The tradition also distinguishes between
linguistic competence, what a person knows of a language, and
linguistic performance, how a person uses it. Finally, grammars and metagrammars are ranked by three
levels of adequacy
In his work '' Aspects of the Theory of Syntax'' (1965), Noam Chomsky introduces a hierarchy of levels of adequacy for evaluating grammars (theories of specific languages) and metagrammars (theories of grammars).
These levels constitute a taxono ...
: observational, descriptive, and explanatory. A core aspect of the original Standard Theory is a distinction between two different representations of a sentence, called
deep structure and surface structure. The two representations are linked to each other by a set of transformation rules, the totality of these rules is what constitute grammar, and what a grammatical description of a language should present. Under this theory, a speaker must have access to both structures to interpret an expression.
Under this model, syntax was placed in the center of linguistic research and sought to go beyond description. Scholars explored the formalism of syntax and psychology of grammar under this model. This led to more systematic research on linguistic data such as
native speaker judgments and distinctions in
grammaticality
In linguistics, grammaticality is determined by the conformity to language usage as derived by the grammar of a particular speech variety. The notion of grammaticality rose alongside the theory of generative grammar, the goal of which is to form ...
.
Many notable linguists have written on the topic, including
Andrew Radford,
[Radford, Andrew (1982). ''Transformational Syntax: A Student's Guide to Chomsky's Extended Standard Theory'' Cambridge University Press, ] Rodney Huddleston,
[Huddleston, Rodney D. (1976). ''An Introduction to English Transformational Syntax.'' Longman, ] and
Roger Fowler
Roger Fowler (1938–1999) was a world-renowned and long-serving British Linguist, and was professor of English and Linguistics at the University of East Anglia. He is well known for his works in stylistics. Together with Bob Hodge, Gunther Kress ...
.
[Fowler, Roger (1971). ''An Introduction to Transformational Syntax.'' Routledge & Kegan Paul, ] Aspects of transformational syntax were revised or replaced under the
Minimalist program
In linguistics, the minimalist program is a major line of inquiry that has been developing inside generative grammar since the early 1990s, starting with a 1993 paper by Noam Chomsky.
Following Imre Lakatos's distinction, Chomsky presents minima ...
.
[Stabler, Edward P. (2000). Minimalist grammars and recognition. Manuscript for the SFB340 workshop at Bad Teinach]
Non-transformational syntax
Non-transformational syntax describes competing models. The main non-transformational syntactic frameworks include
head-driven phrase structure grammar Head-driven phrase structure grammar (HPSG) is a highly lexicalized, constraint-based grammar
developed by Carl Pollard and Ivan Sag. It is a type of phrase structure grammar, as opposed to a dependency grammar, and it is the immediate successor to ...
,
lexical-functional grammar,
categorial grammar, and
simpler syntax.
[Borsley, Robert; Börjars, Kersti, eds. (2011). ''Non-Transformational Syntax: Formal and Explicit Models of Grammar .'' Wiley-Blackwell ]
References
{{reflist
Linguistics